The Fox public house with Colemans Close behind. All the pubs in the village except the Motte and Bailey began around 1830 as beerhouses. The abolition of licensing requirements for beerhouses at that point meant that anyone who paid the 2 Guineas excise payment could sell beer. Most beer retailers combined this activity with another job. John Walker, who took over the Fox in 1912, was also a higgler, a collector and seller of eggs. Pigs and horses were kept in the close to supplement his income.
Birch bus that ran to Hitchin outside the Fox
1977
The 1975 Pram Race
The Fox before 1975
The Fox barn at the entrance to Colemans Close. The land attached to the Fox was always called Colemans.
1956 The Beagle Hounds meeting at the Fox. The spectators are waiting to see them move off to work the fields around the village with the huntsmen on foot. In 2004, hunting with hounds was made illegal.
The Fox drawn by Joe Titmuss
